blog @ west hill house b&b » Green Hotel

A Greener Green Mountain Magazine

susan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:16:37 +0000

Our Vermont, is the new Green Mountain State’s Greener Magazine, and features articles about people, places, events, food, and local flavor offered in the great state of Vermont. Not only is this a paperless magazine, and you can subscribe for free on line, but they chose a 100% wind powered company to do their hosting.

Lucky us, West Hill House B&B has a featured ad in the magazine’s inaugural edition. Check us out on page 2-3, the full-screen option, and accept our invitation to come to Vermont to sample the wonders of our amazing state. West Hill House is a ‘Green Hotel in the Green Mountain State’. We offer Ski & Stay Packages. If you and your sweetie need a little pampering check out our Valentine’s Day special. Perhaps a proposal is in your future …let us help you make that a memorable event.

West Hill House B&B is where you’ll want to B&B.

LED Light bulbs – have they arrived?

peter — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:42:28 +0000

GE LED Bulb

LED light bulbs are the promise of the greener future. We have for some time used LED bulbs outdoors for low intensity flood-lighting and for light strings to mark our front parking lot and highlight our gazebo, but never for mainstream use as real lightbulbs!

Well it seems times have changed. GE is now selling the bulb shown here, which looks very like the real thing! Quite uniquely it spreads light omni-directionally, a real breakthrough for LED bulbs.

So West Hill House burnished our Green Hotel credentials and bought 4 of these yesterday. (Peter is also Scottish so the deal from Lowe’s at only $14 each really swung the decision – most places list it for more than twice that much.)

Given the hype about LEDs you will be surprised that the efficiency is only about 50 lumens per watt, i.e. 450 lumens for the 9W rating of the bulb. A 14W CFL produces about 900 lumens for about 65 lumens per watt, so contrary to expectations LEDs are still less efficient.

However how about actual results? We are amazed at the bright white omni-directional light, which gives the impression of more than a 40W incandescent equivalent bulb. Then there is the 23 year lifetime and no mercury to worry about when they do need discarded. Plus it looks like a light bulb – not a twisted tube! AND it comes on full brightness instantly.

So maybe not quite the time to plan a wholesale replacement, but viable LED bulbs are definitely on the near horizon! We’ll be pleased to show them to you next time you stay.

Guest soap: Landfill or Healthy Alternative?

susan — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:07:22 +0000

Ever wonder what happens to that little bar of “guest” soap once you check out of your B&B or hotel? Well, unless you take the soap with you, it goes strait into the trash then into an over flowing landfill – until now!

Clean the World has developed a process to sterilize soap, killing transmittable pathogens, and making soap ready to be used again.

What’s the point? And why is West Hill House involved?

The point is that impoverished people around the world die every day from acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease because they have no soap. The death toll is staggering. Each year more than five million lives are lost to these diseases with the majority of deaths being among children less than five years old. Studies have shown that simple hand washing substantially reduces the spread of these diseases. Unfortunately, the essential items for proper hand washing are unobtainable for millions of people worldwide.

In an effort to prevent these needless deaths from occurring, Clean the World distributes recycled soap products, along with appropriate educational materials, to impoverished countries worldwide, and to domestic homeless shelters.

West Hill House B&B recently became a Clean the World Hospitality Recycling Partner B&B. For us, contributing gently used bars of guest soap combines our philosophies of being “green” and being able to provide people around the world the chance for a healthier life.

Almost 200 Hotels and B&Bs nation wide and over a dozen charitable organizations participate in this program because they believe in the mission of Clean the World and they know that through the work of this organization the world can become better for both people and the environment.

Click on Clean the World to find out more about their work.